Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Iraq constitution: it's now kinda, sorta official

The votes have been tallied and Iraq has a new
constitution. Two provinces rejected the Constitution but a
third, Ninevah, only mustered a 55% no vote. A 2/3 no vote
was necessary to reject the constitution.

An 11th hour deal brokered by the US ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, before the referendum vote on October 15 saw Shia Muslim and Kurdish parties agree that changes could be made by the four-year parliament to be elected on December 15.

The big question is what the Shias will do now. More from
the Guardian:

Speaking two days after the vote, the US secretary of state,
Condoleeza Rice, said the engagement of Sunni Arabs in the
political process was the principal achievement. "One way or
another, the Iraqis will be in a position to move forward,"
she said.

However, critics say failure to kill the charter could
produce a violent backlash by making Sunnis feel more
marginalised.

Will the Shia
flock to the ballot box in December to gain a greater voice in the
parliament? Or will they fall back to bullets and bombs? If
this
British poll is correct, we're dangerously close to a
time when Iraqis are wholly unified against the U.S.
presence, though still bitterly divided internally.
According to the British military, 45% of Iraqis believe
attacks against U.S. and British forces are justified and
82% are strongly opposed to the U.S. and British troop
presence.

It looks more and more to me like the Shia are ready to
take matters into their own hands and give the Sunni the
civil war they've been agitating for.